Kenner taylor



(No Model.)

K. TAYLOR.

WHISKY TESTER.

No. 413,154. Patented 001:. 15, 1889.

WIIJVESSES [/VVEWZOZ? Kennerfaylon 6 mm9 fiu-wwm diiormy 1 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE) KENNER TAYLOR, or FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY, AssIeNoR OFONE-HALF TO JOHN MEAGHER, OF SAME PLACE.

WHlSKY-TESTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 413,154, dated October15, 1889.

Application filed July 31, 1889. Serial No. 319,334. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, KENNER TAYLOR, a citizen of the United States,residing at Frankfort, in the county of Franklin and State of Kentucky,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in IVhisky-Testers;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to that class of devices whereby whisky,singlings, and other spirits are tested as to proof.

In all distilleries there are tubs used for the reception of the spiritsmade, and the tops of the tubs are tightly covered and provided eachwith a man-hole, the door to which is locked, and the key is carried bya government storekeeper. WVhenever the distiller or his representativewants to try the contents of said tubs as to its proof he has to sendfor the store-keeper to unlock the tub, and after the test is made thetub is again locked. This may occur twenty or thirty times daily, andfrequently it happens that at the moment when a test should be made thestore-keeper is elsewhere occupied, and consequently the whisky runs toolow in proof before he can be gotten, and to correct this the high winesof the next doubling have to be broken into, thus entailingaconsiderable loss. From the same cause the whisky is frequently pumpedover at too high a proof, the whisky-runner having guessed at the proofrather than to take the time and trouble to call the store-keeper. Thenwater must be carried to the cisternroom, where the whisky is drawn off,to reduce its proof, again entailing loss of whisky, labor, and time.These difficulties and many others with which the practical distiller isfamiliar in the present method of testing whisky, singlings, and otherspirits, I propose to obviate by providing means whereby the tests maybe made as frequently as may be desired without opening the tubcontaining the same, and without exposing any portion of the spirits tobe wasted or stolen or in any way touched, the standard instruments nowin use by the government being employed.

To this end my invention consists, first, in a test-chamber secured uponand opening into the tub, and having one or more transparent sidesthrough which the result of the test may be observed; second, in certainminor details whereby a sample of the spirits may be drawn up from thetub into the chamber, and whereby the usual standard testing deviceemployed by the governmenta hydrometermay be immersed freely in thesample, and whereby the sample may be discharged into the tub after thetest is made, and, third, in a thermometer-cover of peculiar form, ashereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure I represents avertical section ofmy invention and a portion of a tub to which it is attached. Fig. II-isa horizontal sectional view looking down upon line ac. Fig. III is ahorizontal section of the thermometer-cup on a larger scale than thesame is shown in Figs. I and II.

10 represents the portion of a top of a tub containing the spirits.

13 represents my testing-chamber. It consists of a glass tube 14,abase-plate 11, a top ring 15, a cap 16, and side rods 17. The glasstube is transparent and open at both ends. It is tightly cemented to thebase-plate 11 and to the ring 15. The base-plate 11 is annular and isrigidly secured to the tub over and around a hole therein by means ofbolts 12, whose screw-nuts may be on the inside of the tub to preventthe whole device being removed or the interior tampered with. The

cap 16 is hinged to the top ring at 18, so that it may be opened, and itmaybe locked by means of the staple 19 and a government lock. The rods17 connect the ring 15 with the base-plate l1, and form therewith arigid frame for the glass tube 14:.

21 is a crib for freely supporting the hydrometer. It consists of thestaves 22, se-

cured at the top to an annular plate 23, and

provided with hoops 24 and with a concave perforated bottom 25. Thisshould be in some manner cushioned with elastic ma terialas, forinstance, by means of a rubber or cork floor 26 -to prevent breaking theglass by I00 drometer in rapid handling. The plate 23 is fitted'to restupon the ring 15, and the cribmay be freely lifted out of thetest-chamber when the cap 16 is open for cleaning or other purposes.

27 is the thermometer-cup, consisting of a thin brass tube 28, open atboth ends, but screwed at its lower end into a bottom 29, with which itmay be made tightin any usual way, such as by means of the packing-ring30. One side of the cup is provided with a thermometer 31, as usual; butinstead of the usual fiat glass covering for the thermometer, I- providea convex glass 32, having the curve of a cylindrical segment, with itsedges secured to the cup beyond the edges of the thermometer. By thismeans the thermometer receives more light, and it may also be seen fromany direction as clearly as though not covered, thus having greatadvantage over a flat glass in permitting the scale of the thermometerto be read.

33 is a puppet-valve seated in the bottom 29 and provided with adepending stem 34, to be engaged by a lever 35,which is pivoted toa'portion of the bottom 29.

q 36 is atrip-rod passing up through the base-plate 11, and providedwith a spring 37, to hold it normally raised, and having a knob 38. Thelever 35 is weighted at 39 to keep the end beneath the valve down.

40 represents two guide-rods of the length required to reach the bottomof the tub. They are fitted to slide in guide-tubes 41, which I preferto form by grooving the rods 17, which are fixed through the base-plate11, and the guide-rods 40 are fixed rigidly at their lower ends to thebottom piece 29 andconnected at their upper ends by a stiff ring 42.

'43 represents a handle attached to the ring or to one of the rods.

44 represents a barrel-wheel journaled in a portion of the base-plate 11and circumferentially toothed to engage a rack 46 on one of the rods 40,and 45 is a spring within the barrel and acting thereon to revolve it inthe direction to lift or balance the weight of the cup 27, whether thesame be full or empty, including also the weight of the bottom 29, rods40, and other attachments.

To operate this invention, the cup 27 may be let down tothe desireddepth by means of the handle 43 and connections described, and allowedto fill. If the liquor is low down in the tub, the weight 39 will bepressed upon the bottom of the tub and will raise the not a drop of theliquor can be withdrawn from the tub, nor has the tubbeen in any wayopened to permit loss by evaporation or otherwise. The spring 45 andintermediate gearing will hold the cup raised until it is pushed down byforce, and the liquor may be returned to the tub through the valve 33 bypressing on the knob 38,which, acting through the lever 35, will openthe valve.

The minor details of this device may be variously changed to producepractically the same result without affecting the principle of myinvention-as, for example, the two rods 40, supporting the cup 27, maybe differently located and a different balancing device from the spring45 and the gearing shown may be used; or the balance may be dispensedwith.

A chamber made transparent at one side might answer the purpose to alimited extent but I prefer the glass tube transparent at all sides, asdescribed. The chamber might also be adapted for limited use by beingattached to one side of the tub near its top; but this would involve adifferent method of bringing the test-cup around the crib, and it wouldlessen the storage capacity of the tub, or else be useless when theliquor filled the tub.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I believe to be new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

1. The combination of a covered liquor-tub, a chamber thereon having oneor more transparent sides, a crib for loosely supporting a hydrometerhung within the chamber, a thermometer-cup adapted to rise within thechamber and around the crib, there being an opening from the chamberinto the tub through which the said cup may pass, and a rod or rodsattached to the cup, whereby it may be dipped in the tub and broughtinto the said chamber, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination of a tub having a hole in its top, a transparentcover for the hole, a crib or equivalent hyd rometer-holder beneath thesaid cover, and a cup adapted to be raised around the said crib,substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination of a tub having a hole in its top, transparent coverfor the hole, a cup adapted to be raised through the hole beneath thecover, a thermometer secured to one side of the cup, and a transparentcover to the thermometer, convex on its outer face, substantially asshown and described.

4. The combination of a covered liquor-tub having a hole in the cover, atransparent chamber secured over the said hole, a crib for holding ahydrometer removably suspended within the chamber, and a cover hinged tothe chamber and adapted to be locked, substantially as shown anddescribed.

5. The combination of a liquor-tub having a hole in its top, atransparent chamber secured over the hole, a thermometercup adapted topass up through the hole, guide- IIO rods attached to the cup, wherebyit may be sunk: into and drawn up out of the contents of the tub, andguides for the said rods fixed relatively to the said chamber, wherebythe raising of the rods will draw and direct the cup into the chamber.

6. The combination of a thermometer-cup, guide-rods therefor, one ofwhich is provided with a toothed rack, a support provided with guidesthroughwhich the rods may slide, a toothed barrel-wheel journaled on thesaid support to engage the said rack, and a balance-spring within thebarrel, substantially as shown and described. a

7. The combination of a thermometer-cup,

